Tribuni plebis

Abstract

Ancient sources relate that the tribunes of the plebs were created in the first plebeian secession (494–493 bce ) to act as officers for the assembly of the plebs, to pass resolutions (plebiscites) binding on the plebs, and to defend the plebs and their property against abusive magistrates. By 287 bce , the tribunate had become Rome's principal legislative institution, its plebiscites binding on all Roman citizens. Through aggressive use of their legislative and obstructive powers, popularis tribunes of the later second century bce helped spark off the so‐called “Roman Revolution,” a century of civil and military conflict that culminated in the establishment of the Augustan principate and the reduction of the tribunate to an urban administrative position. Nevertheless, literary and epigraphic evidence indicates that the office of tribunus plebis continued as an important step on the cursus honorum into the late imperial era.